"If Salomea Kruszelnicka is remembered, it will be as the creator of Puccini’s successfully revised version of MADAMA BUTTERFLY….Both Puccini and Toscanini were great admirers, and it was on the composer’s personal invitation that she sang MADAMA BUTTERFLY, after its initial failure in Milan….Having studied with the same teacher but around six years [Kruszenicka’s] junior, Elena Ruszkowska displays most of the virtues of her colleague plus, on record at least, an even more impressive voice and equally fine technical expertise….here we have the complete recordings of one important soprano, plus a generous sampling of another. It could take a lifetime to accumulate fine copies of these rare, important sides, but Marston’s perseverance…has given us all the documentary and aural evidence, mostly in finer sound than many of us could achieve from original pressings."

- Vivian A. Liff, CLASSIC RECORD COLLECTOR, Summer, 2007

"Here we have Salomea Kruszelnicka’s complete recordings, superbly presented and documented as ever from this [Marston] source….The singing supports her reputation. She is warmly communicative and nuanced….The Wagner selections show a probing Italianate approach – expressive and convincing….Coupled with the complete recordings of Kruszelnicka is a selection [of recordings] by Elena Ruszkowska, in many ways an even more impressive soprano….In every respect these are important documents of a most important singer. This is a connoisseur’s release. The transfers have been effected with considerable care…as ever with Marston…."

- Jonathan Woolf, THE RECORD COLLECTOR, 2007

"Salomea Kruszelnicka simply has one of the most beautiful dramatic soprano voices on record. The voice has strength and a dusky tone coupled with a mastery of phrasing. She had a remarkable career."

- Ward Marston

"[Ruszkowska's] voice, as we hear it in Leonora’s ‘La Vergine degli angeli’ from LA FORZA DEL DESTINO, is a brilliant lyric dramatic soprano, the quality finer than either Kruszelnicka or Korolewicz-Wayda, and she is a more sensitive and imaginative artist….It would be difficult to imagine a better performance, the voice soaring above the chorus to a beautifully poised soft high B at the end; a musical as well as a most effective interpolation....her singing of Aïda's music especially is distinguished. In 'Là tra foreste' for example, the phrasing is replete with poetic accents and subtle use of rubato, she carefully observes all the expressive markings...."